Category Archives: results

Cadillac Racing Expands WEC Entries to Two Cars in 2025

Cadillac Racing said today that its FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC)* Hypercar program will expand to a two-car factory program to be named Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA** beginning with the start of the 2025 season. It’s a major realignment of two separate racing programs that have tried to beat each other for two seasons now. Jota is leaving Porsche. Drivers of the No. 12 and No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R racecars, powered by the purpose-built Cadillac 5.5-liter DOHC V8 engine, will be announced in the future. Continue reading

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Nissan Recalling More 2023 Ariya EV models for Power Loss

Nissan North America is recalling  more 2023 Ariya hybrid EV models because the inverter software may misdiagnose an error, which can shut down the EV system, resulting in a loss of drive power, according to documents made public this morning by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“All of these Ariya have been previously recalled under Recall 23V-657 (Nissan Ariya Inverter). Nissan Ariya vehicles that have received the reprogramming remedy for Recall 23V-657 no longer contain the issue and are not included in this recall,” Nissan claimed in the required NHTSA filing. Continue reading

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Tesla Recalls More 1.8M EVs with Chinese Hood Latches

Tesla is recalling more than 1.8 million 2021-2024 Model 3, Model S, Model X, and 2020-2024 Model Y vehicles. The Magna Chinese-made hood latch assembly may fail to detect an unlatched hood after the hood has been opened, according to documents made public this morning by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Continue reading

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Soothsayer Shortfall – US Light Vehicle Sales Flat in July

US Light Vehicle (LV) sales fell by 0.4% YoY in July, to 1.30 million. When sales contracted in June largely as the result of the CDK cyberattack,* it was expected  by industry soothsayers that the market would experience a significant rebound in July. It didn’t happen. According to preliminary estimates released today by the respected GlobalData** consultancy, Light Vehicle (LV) sales fell by 0.4% YoY. Continue reading

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Honda 1964 RA272 F1 Car to Lap Laguna Seca Historic Races

Honda engines have powered four drivers to a combined eight Formula One Drivers’ Championships. Engines created by Honda have twice set F1 records for the most race wins in a season, including a historic 2023 season, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez winning all but one race in dominant fashion. This beat the previous win-rate record set by McLaren Honda in 1988 with drivers Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. As this run went on and on veteran racing journalist Chris Economaki said into an open mike during ABC’s Wide World of Sports coverage that “I have seen better racing in a Cornfield in Iowa on Saturday night.”  ABC fired him. When I caught up with him later in the press room of the New York Auto Show I said, “sorry to hear about your ABC gig,”  Chris said, “They bought my voice, not my mind.” The lack of competition for the past couple of season in F1 has been well noted by others – but not as succinctly as Chris did.  Continue reading

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Magna Results Reflect Turmoil in OE EV Programs

AutoInformed notes that Magna’s challenge as a global diversified supplier to automakers going forward is adopting to and making money from the delay, elimination or reduced volumes in larger automaker EV programs while retaining or increasing sales from the now extended life of vehicles  with internal combustion engines and their potential freshening and updates with increased content that this likely entails. Continue reading

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AC Cars Revives Cobra GT Coupe

AC Cars released today the first images of the new AC Cobra GT Coupe. The first ever official AC Cobra coupe set for production, working from an augmented version of the existing AC Cobra GT Roadster architecture. This road-going model, you might remember – if you are of a certain age and Monte Carlo Rally, LeMans and Kammtail resonate – draws on AC’s racing heritage. Continue reading

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Stellantis Pursuing Share Buy Backs?

Stellantis N.V. (NYSE: STLA) said today that pursuant to its Share Buyback Program* announced on 15 February 2024, covering up to €3 billion to be executed in the open market, it has signed a share buyback agreement for the third tranche of its Program with an investment firm that will make its trading decisions concerning the timing of purchases independently of Stellantis. This despite (or because of?) its dreadful performance thus far in 2024. Continue reading

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Penske Automotive Group Posts Lukewarm Q2 Results

“I am pleased to see that our service and parts business remains strong and contributed to our record total quarterly revenue of $7.7 billion. In addition, our focus on efficiency and controlling costs drove a sequential decline in selling, general, and administrative expenses as a percentage of gross profit by 50 basis points to 70.2%,” said Chair and CEO Roger Penske, which is more or less what he said about Q1 results. Continue reading

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More Fines for Tampering with Emissions Control Systems

“The defendants knowingly and repeatedly flouted Clean Air Act regulations even after being told that this conduct was against the law,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are committed to enforcing the law and holding individuals and businesses accountable.” Continue reading

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More Toyota Certification Problems Emerge from MLIT Probe

Toyota Motor Corporation said today that it had received a “correction order” from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), that calls for “drastic reforms to ensure appropriate certification operations.” Akio Toyoda’s chairman’s position remains under threat here from dissatisfied shareholders, AutoInformed notes. Continue reading

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Commercial Vehicle Sales Up in EU H1 2024

During the first half of 2024, new EU van sales increased by 15%, at 840,409 units, driven by double-digit growth in key markets, according to data just released by The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).* “Germany led with a remarkable 19.3% rise, followed by Spain at 18.5%, Italy at 17.8%, and France at 10.5%. New EU truck registrations saw a more modest increase of 3%, at 183,295 units from January to June. This growth was primarily driven by an 18.2% increase in medium-truck sales, while heavy trucks remained stable with a 0.3% increase. Spain and Italy led with double-digit gains of 21.7% and 10.5%, respectively, while Germany (+8.1%) and France (+5.5%) also posted growth,” ACEA said. Continue reading

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FAA Okays Automated Commercial Drone Flights

The FAA said today that it has authorized commercial drone flights without visual observers in the same Dallas-area airspace. In a first for U.S. aviation, Zipline International and Wing Aviation can now deliver packages while it’s claimed that  their drones safely separated  from other air traffic using so called Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) technology.

Previously, when operating drones, the drone pilot must be able to always see the unmanned aircraft. However, what the FAA claims are new advancements in air traffic technology and procedures are making these “Beyond Visual Line of Sight” (BVLOS) flights routine. Considerable lobbying pressure no doubt is in play. The FAA budget was threatened by Republicans last year in latest fiscal year fiasco. The current budget expires on 30 September, so fasten your safety belt, this is going to be a stormy flight. Continue reading

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Retro-Vette? 2025 Chevy Corvette Split-Window ZR1 Coupe

“We went into the ZR1 program with lofty goals, but even our first development tests on-track showed the teams were already exceeding them,” said Tadge Juechter, executive chief engineer, Corvette. “As we worked to develop this car, we continued to leap past expectations, and we knew we had a special Corvette on our hands.” Continue reading

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Ford EVs and Quality Damage First Half Net Income and EPS

Ford Motor (NYSE: F) posted disastrous financial results this week caused by its struggling electric vehicle business and the ongoing costs of large recalls on vehicles of its past. Ford posted Q2 2024 quarter revenue of $47.8 billion, net income of $1.8 billion and adjusted EBIT of $2.8 billion (see the accompanying results chart for Q2 and combined Q1 and Q2 numbers). Leaving aside the Ford spin on the financial results for the moment, the Dearborn based automaker is haunted by its past as well as current management practices sharing a precarious future with other once formidable global legacy automakers. Continue reading

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